A Light in the Darkness
by The Lady Vampire Lilac
Summary: Josh has been lost in the Further for months now until he comes across a terrified young couple haunted by a creature from Hell. When Josh saves one half of the couple, it's only a matter of time before the darkness gets to both of them or can a light be found in time to save them both? WARNING: HAS SPOILERS FROM 'INSIDIOUS 2!


*** Omg, my first fanfic in eight or nine months! It's been way too long since I've put anything up here! Inspiration is a hard thing to come by these days. Thank God inspiration struck when I went and saw 'Insidious 2'. **

**WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN 'INSIDIOUS 2' OR ANY OF THE 'PARANORMAL ACTIVITY' MOVIES THEN YOU MIGHT WANT TO X OUT OF THIS STORY LICKETY SPLIT CAUSE I HAVE SPOILERS FROM 'INSIDIOUS 2' AND THE 'PARANORMAL ACTIVITY' MOVIES FEATURED IN THIS STORY. IF YOU'RE NOT AFRAID TO GAIN KNOWLEDGE AHEAD OF TIME, THEN READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. **

The Further is no place for a living soul. Ask Josh Lambert, who has been roaming the Further for months now. He has tried everything he could to get his family's attention. They wander about his childhood home, ghosts of their former selves. They don't see the monster wearing Josh's skin.

In the darkness, Josh finds himself losing hope. As days go by, he sees no way out of this eternal night. Finally, he wanders into a home that doesn't look familiar to him. Looking around, Josh sees a staircase leading up to a second floor. As he begins to climb the stairs, he can hear something behind him. He turns to see a chandelier swinging back and forth as though it were a pendulum.

Suddenly, Josh sees a couple staring terrified up at the swinging chandelier. Josh was used to seeing ghosts in the Further but something about this couple made Josh hesitate. Behind the woman, he could see the figure of an old man. This wasn't just any old man. He was dressed in what looked like a two-piece black suit with a high-collared white undershirt. There was a black wide-rimmed hat on his head. His hair fell to his shoulders and it was the color of corn silk. What was most mesmerizing about this old man was his face.

His eyes were sunken into his head like a skull. His thin lips were peeled back over two rows of straight white teeth that gleamed from the light of Josh's lantern. The skin around the face was yellowish and so tight you could see the high cheekbones. Josh could feel his heart jump into his throat at the sight of this creature. For this wasn't a human being, this was a figure of death.

Josh looked again at the woman. Josh could see to his horror that she was very young, maybe in her mid to late twenties. She had dark hair and dark eyes in a sweet round face. She was pretty and so frightened. Next to her, a young man in a white shirt and boxers tried to coax her back towards the stairs. Josh moved aside as they came towards him and saw to his horror that the creature followed the woman.

As the creature passed Josh on its' way up the stairs, he shivered from the cold and darkness seeping from the wretched soul haunting that poor woman. Then Josh noticed something else on the back of the creature's suit: a five-pointed star in a circle etched with fire.

Josh could feel the fire and could swear he got scorched by it. He patted at his clothes but they were fine. He wasn't being scorched. Though it felt like he had been transported to a realm beyond the Further, a realm that bled with fire and brimstone, a place where the tortured souls could burn forever in the fiery depths. Josh knew that this creature came from Hell and it wouldn't stop until it claimed this young woman's soul.

In that instant, Josh felt so much pity for this scared young woman that he made it his mission to save her from Hell. Josh watched and waited until the moment this young woman would need his assistance. He watched as she argued with her boyfriend, trying to convince him of the evil in their house.

"No, Micah, you haven't been in control! IT has been in control and if you think you're in control, you're being an idiot! Not a single thing you've done has helped! And I'm sorry but the powder on the floor and the stupid footprints haven't helped! You think that thing would have left footprints if it didn't want to? No! It wanted you to find my photo! IT could be anywhere! IT hears what we're saying right now!" Katie ranted and raved at her boyfriend, wielding the home telephone like a weapon to use against the clueless young man.

"Hey, how the fuck do you know?" Micah shouted back.

Josh could only shake his head. They didn't see the creature practically hanging off their every word. His teeth were gleaming somewhere near Katie's ear. It was that close to her. It was getting closer every day. Josh watched as the scene changed to their bedroom. A camera was set up on a tripod in a corner, facing the sleeping couple. Josh was next to the camera, watching as though he were the director to this horror show as Katie was dragged out of her bed by the creature.

"Micah! Micah! MICAH!" Katie screamed but the door slammed on her terrified face just as Micah woke up.

Josh followed Micah out of the room, down the hall, towards one of the guest bedrooms. Katie was screaming her head off as Micah grabbed her arms and braced himself against the door frame, pulling with all his might. Josh leapt over a struggling Micah and Katie to push back the creature.

The creature let go with a horrible scream and vanished into the darkness. Josh knew that it wasn't over. Nope, not by a long shot. That thing was bound to Katie and it would never stop. The scene changed once again and Katie was in bed, except that Josh could see that it wasn't Katie in the bed. The creature was inside her now. It had gained enough strength to latch on to her body.

Josh looked to his left to see Katie standing next to him, watching in horror as the thing said with her voice, "I think we'll be okay now".

Josh turned to stop Katie from watching the next scene. She pounded on his chest, crying and screaming that she had to see. Josh pulled her back into the darkness, struggling to keep her from looking anywhere but at him. Suddenly, Katie screamed, "MICAH!"

Josh almost jumped back as she began screaming but then he just held onto her arms as tight as he could. Finally, she fainted and it took all of Josh's energy to keep her standing up as he brought her back to his childhood home. He placed Katie in a chair and waited anxiously until she woke up.

Josh could hear his family moving about their life. It made him sad to hear that nothing had changed in the short amount of time that he met Katie. In a world filled with darkness, Katie had become a ray of light to Josh. His mission to save her from the creature was the most fulfilling thing he had done since bringing his son back from the Lipstick Demon's lair. Reaching out, Josh brushed back a few strands of dark hair that obscured her sweet face.

His light touch was enough to wake her. Katie turned her head and saw Josh sitting in a nearby chair, his hand still outstretched toward her face. She looked confused at first but then she seemed to remember what had happened. Sitting straighter in the chair, she let out a mournful sigh.

"Micah's dead", she said though it wasn't a question.

"There was nothing I could do for him", Josh tried to explain.

"Where are we?" Katie then asked, finally noticing their strange settings.

"A place called 'The Further'. It's sort of a purgatory for the tortured souls of the dead", Josh told her.

"But you're not dead", Katie surmised.

"No, I'm not", Josh said, not able to disguise the surprise in his voice.

"I don't know how I know that but I do", Katie tried to explain, looking confused.

"I think it's best that we stay together" Josh suggested.

"I don't know where else to go", Katie admitted with another mournful sigh.

"Trust me, so long as we're together, everything will be just fine", Josh tried to reassure Katie.

Katie looked like she wanted to believe Josh but Josh knew that it would be hard for her to completely trust him. After all, he kept her from seeing her boyfriend's last moments on Earth. Josh tried not to be too offended by Katie's mistrust of him. He knew she was only trying to look out for herself. Josh knew that he had wasted enough time as it was, helping Katie when there was a monster walking around his house pretending to be him. Maybe with Katie's help, he could try to save his family.

"You look like you want to ask me something", Katie said, tilting her head to the side as she regarded Josh curiously.

"If it's not too much to ask, I could use your help", Josh admitted.

Katie seemed to hesitate. There wasn't much else she could do than help Josh with whatever he was going to ask of her. They sort of fell together into the darkness of the Further, entangled in each other and Katie didn't know where she began and Josh ended. It was as though their fates were entwined and while it was a scary prospect for Katie, it was just as scary and real for Josh who had more to lose than Katie did. She could tell that he was a family man. Something in his aura showed that kindness and compassion. It was that same kindness and compassion that saved her.

"It looks like I owe you one after what you did for me so name your price and I'm your girl", Katie announced after a minute in which she considered her options.

Josh couldn't help but give Katie a big smile. For the first time in months, he felt like light was reaching into the dark corners of his mind. There was hope that he could get out of the Further and back home to his family.

Katie returned his smile, feeling the same rush of hope filling her veins, reinvigorating her after weeks of pure hell. They were in this together, Katie and Josh. No matter what happened, no matter what curve balls were thrown their way, they would find a light in the darkness so long as they kept that light shining for each other.

*** I hope you enjoyed this 'first chapter' of sorts. As with all of my other stories, romance is going to be prominent but I promise a lot of scares in future chapters. I'm excited to hear what you have to say about this story! Please let me know if there's anything I can do to make this story as much fun for you as it's going to be for me! Until next time, my horror fans!**


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